//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Escalation // Story: Tiberian Eclipse // by Material Defender //------------------------------// “There’s two of them,” Viers flatly stated. “I can see that for myself, Lieutenant,” Wesley responded in kind. “Sisters, no less. Funny. In my experience, sibling royalty don’t exactly get along all that great.” He walked forward a few steps, getting a better look at the bubble. “Very well, Your Majesty, I will try my best to save her. EVA, I’m putting in a requisitions request for sonic containment rings.” “Yes, doctor. Camp Greenwood has a number of sonic containment rings in storage, and will be prepped for you when you arrive.” “Good.” He looked back at Celestia. “Can she be moved? As far as I’m concerned, this is not a hygienically sound environment. We will need to move her to the medical facilities in our current base of operations at the bottom of this mountain.” “Princess, what about... Pie?” The last part of Twilight’s statement faded off, which usually meant that she was introducing a new word the program hadn’t recognized before. “She’s been afflicted, too.” “I see. How is... aptitude with magic? She might be able to handle Pinkie Pie bubble while you deal with Luna’s.” Celestia turned around, and with another flare of her magic, drifted Luna’s stasis bubble towards them. “The bubble has its own magic, so you need not worry about sustaining it. All you must simply do is move it... but carefully.” “I understand, Princess,” Twilight said, nodding. “I’ll do my best. I know Rarity will also want to help. Should all of us go along?” “They are your friends, Twilight. And I’m sure you’ve had your share of being cooped up in the castle researching a solution for our crisis, which has now appeared to have quite literally dropped from the skies, it seems. Go now, Twilight. The sooner we can save Pinkie and Luna, the sooner we can move on to saving our home.” “Right away, Princess.” Twilight levitated the bubble behind her, letting it trail levelly and at a pace slow enough to prevent any sudden shifts in movement. “Okay, Doctor Wesley,” she said. “We can move now.” “Fantastic.” He activated his comms. “Mobius, come in.” “Mobius is here, doc. What do you need?” “Park the crawler right outside the gates. We’re about to pick up some VIPs.” “Whoa, that was quick. Right away, doc. All units, form up on me. We’re moving to the front door. And watch those lines, I’m picking up—enemy contacts coming up the hill! Scimitar, close the lines, and engage at will!” Gunfire followed in the background. “What is it, Mobius? What’s attacking you?” “More of those things we fought outside of Greenwood. Turns out they followed us up here, but it’s just the smaller ones. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem for us.” Wesley waved Viers to exit the door before them as he followed, with the bubble-toting unicorn following him as he went. “Oh, great. They can burrow... freaking fantastic.” “We’re on our way to the gates now, Mobius. Just make sure you have the red carpet waiting for us when we get there.” “Can do, doc. Did you guys leave Yankee out by the door?” “Yes, we did. They’re on stand-by until we return.” “Great, they can join the party. See you then, doc.” “Hammer here, commander. Yeah, I can harvest this glacier, but it’s going to take a while. You sure we got the silo room for this much Tiberium?” Alexandra’s battlefield view drifted over to a small mining vehicle convoy guarded by soldiers and Titans, as it prepared its vehicle-mounted ion cannon to begin shaving away the glacier into collectible chunks. “We do. And if we need more, we can just expand the base. I’m in the process of trying to get heavy movers down to the surface. Most of the terrain is uneven and making it a pain to drop down pavement for easier transport.” “Roger, sir. We’ll have this baby cut apart by the time dinner rolls around. Sheesh, just look at that forest. It’s chock-full of Tiberium-spitting trees over there. No wonder why this place got eaten up. Uh, tell the deforest crews that they're going to have some trouble with that.” “Good. Watch yourselves out there.” He closed the transmission and zoomed out to a map of the region, several areas marked for prime military base construction by EVA. The one he was most interested in was in the mountain range across from the city of Canterlot. It was in the mountains above the Tiberium, hard to assault via ground, and provided a clear view of the valley below, making it ideal for air and artillery support. The only problem still lay in negotiating proper terms for building on it. “Mobius here, commander. We just picked up a few of the locals, afflicted with Tiberium. We’re preparing to transport them back to Greenwood for medical attention.” “That was quick. Relations were smooth, I hope?” “Smooth as ice, sir. Well, we haven’t shot at them, and they haven’t attacked us. I’d consider that pretty good, right? Aside from that, there’s a whole city of them, just full of ponies! I want to visit that place when I get some time off!” “Curb your enthusiasm and focus on the job. I’ve heard you met contact already on the way up.” EVA had notified him of a small engagement between Mobius’ detail and some stragglers from the valley. Their enemy had no methodology or routine to their actions, so it escalated their threat level, especially since it put scouting patrols at risk. “Just some minor elements. Nothing big. We’re currently on our way back down the mountain. Think we can get some aid up here? The doc says they’re pretty low on food supplies and medical aid. Not sure what we can do for food considering that all of ours is mostly processed crap... how about some of the veggies from the Methuselah’s hydroponics section?” “The dropships will be heading planetside with them the first chance they get.” He rubbed his head. “Well, at least we got off on the right foot. I wanted to get set up on the ground as soon as possible. Let the doctor know that establishing a proper presence on the ground is our current priority, short only of aiding the natives.” “Roger, sir, I’ll let him know.” Hampton’s face disappeared as Alexandra wheeled around in his chair, looking at the massive holographic projection of the planet that sat in the middle of the command center. “EVA, scan again for Scrin energy signatures.” The display shimmered with waves of green light as the scans commenced, only to return nothing yet again after several minutes. Alexandra frowned; every known fact about Scrin operational doctrine meant that every planet seeded with Tiberium usually had a foreman group assigned to look after it. This planet was more than ripe for the taking, yet none were present. “So, it looks like there still isn’t any Scrin yet, hmm?” a familiar voice said, interrupting Alexandra’s train of thought. “Surprising, considering that this planet is barely off of the flanks of the primary frontlines. If we noticed this, they probably did, too.” “Redding,” Alexandra said, spinning around to look at the man sitting in what appeared to be a mirror clone of his own command center. “Nice of you to drop in. How long is it until you and your boys show up here, hmm?” “Not long, I would hope. The Amaranthine’s been doing its mandatory reactor core shakedowns, so we’re behind schedule a bit, and engineering is absolutely adamant about leaving us dead in the middle of space to make sure it gets done right. You can’t take any chances with such large engines of energy, after all. Fear not, we’ll be there in less than a couple of days, provided nothing explodes.” “That’s good to hear. Have the MARVs been outfitted with mining lasers? We’re going to need them to take apart the larger glaciers. The buildup down there is substantial, so I have no doubt that they’re going to see some use.” “Fitted with the newest vehicle-mounted ion cannons, courtesy of ZOCOM itself. The new versions have increased energy output for the same energy cost, a new refocusing system that G-Tech has put into play recently. We might see new weapon potential with that research... I’ve heard rumors that the Steel Talons have already gotten their hands on some small arms ion weaponry for their soldiers in use in the field.” Alexandra chuckled, for he knew just exactly where those rumors originated from... his own soldiers, who had been chosen to field-test the weapon against the Scrin in several small skirmishes. They were highly effective, to say the least. “Well, I can say one thing, at least, Redding... those rumors aren’t rumors.” Redding raised an eyebrow. “You don’t say?” The lights behind him flickered for a moment as the screen shook slightly. “Ah. Looks like the shakedowns have been completed.” He turned around and spoke to a uniformed navy man, one that Alexandra recognized as wearing the ranks of a navy captain, standing near the star map. “Crispin, match speed to previous conditions and stay the course. I want to make good time on our rendezvous.” “Aye, aye, sir,” the man responded, before filling Redding’s bridge with the sound of orders, as Redding returned to his conversation. Alexandra had to stifle a laugh when he saw a crewman trip behind Redding’s chair as he passed by the screen; Redding was not as easily amused, and merely gave the man a exaggerated nod to let him know that his dignity was still somewhat intact. “Well, we might make our schedule. But there might be something you should know, Alexandra.” Redding looked offscreen for a moment at his own command console, and sent something through the channel. Alexandra’s own console opened up with another display: this one a map of the frontlines, present as a vertical line just eastward of Earth’s territories, and their own position, just south of that very battle line. “Well, I guess it was only a matter of time...” Alexandra said, noticing a direct advance from Scrin territories directly at his current position on the star map: his own ship, in orbit over this particular planet. “Yes, I believe our friends have finally noticed. They may have been detoured for a moment as I’ve received reports that GDI Spec Ops had successfully sabotaged one of their carriers via a long-distance ion strike at the engines, permanently putting the whole thing out of commission, but the other has been sent to reclaim this planet. InOps estimates at least several weeks before they reach you.” Alexandra’s eyes narrowed. “What cult are we dealing with here? Should I be worried about one drone carrier?” “Given that its cargo is still at full capacity with Scrin soldiers, yes, you should be worried. As for the cult... well, I’m not saying like this is some sort of coincidence or anything, but... you’ll be interested to know that the cult in particular on that ship belongs to one that you’re well acquainted with, Alexandra... Annihilator-2.” Alexandra could feel a sense of apprehension boil in his stomach. Annihilator-2 was arguably the largest Scrin cult there was, and evidently the most powerful: they were the no-holds-barred cult, with technology surpassing even the already-deadly Reaper-17 cult during the Third Tiberium War. And even their combat tactics were just as deadly: they did not stop any assault until all their soldiers were dead or victory was achieved, and every retreat that would inevitably follow a failed assault followed a scorched earth tactic to leave nothing in the way of cover for advancing ISDI troops to use. They were a deadly foe to face in battle, and it was no surprise that standard ISDI infantry were easily overwhelmed by their advantage in both numbers and firepower. It was a miracle that combat-oriented cults often shunned masterminds or prodigies in favor of their own troops, though the exact reasoning why they did so produced a number of theories from InOps, ranging from animosity between cults to excessive pride. Short of the mysterious Conqueror-1 ruling cult of the Scrin, there was no deadlier foe that a commander could face. But unfortunately for them, it had to be Alexandra. Protocol was protocol... and protocol demanded that the Steel Talons be deployed in response to stop this threat, in clear view of the conditions: a medium-strength contingent of regular ISDI troops on an almost completely unprotected world, covered with Tiberium. In other circumstances, such as the frontlines, multiple commanders could easily hold the line against Annihilator forces due to consolidation of firepower and teamwork using the regulars, but a concentrated attack like this required that the firepower put forward to match. “Yeah, I remember those guys...” Alexandra said. “Victory at all costs and handicap the opponents in every way possible. Big guns, big soldiers, and lots of both. I suppose that General Hallman has already been notified?” Redding smiled. “Well, look at it this way, Alexandra: the Hammerfest is returning to your command, courtesy of a direct deployment order from the general himself. And he’s already given full authorization for all the technologies across the board for you to use. Better get those anti-orbital defense cannons set up.” “I noticed...” he said. A transmission direct from ISDI CENTCOM danced in front of his eyes, detailing the very things Redding had just finished telling him. “So, I had a few spots for you to set up. We have some strange energy signatures coming up from north of our regions... nothing too large to indicate that it’s Scrin, but it’s there, and I don’t know what’s causing it.” “Sure, I’ll take up the slack in the north,” Redding agreed. “If we’re lucky, it’ll just be some fluctuations being caused by ion storm interference up there. A good clean-up of the Tiberium should do the trick, and maybe we’ll have some clear skies within a couple of weeks’ time. I should arrive before our friends show up... perhaps this time, we won’t have a repeat of what happened before.” “Of course.” The floating insignia of the Steel Talons appeared on another display as Alexandra gave confirmation on the green-light for his current command console to access high-tier technologies. “So long as we don’t end up bogged down again, I think we’ll be fine.” “Commander work. Never grows old or too easy, does it?” “If it were easy, we’d have every bright-eyed recruit from Jupiter applying for a commander’s chair straight out of the academy... though I do admit that we could use some more forward battle commanders in the field.” Redding chuckled. “I doubt many would be willing to accommodate for that, Alexandra... experience fighting in the field is required for that.” The sound of rumbling could be heard in the background, as Crispin could be seen behind Redding charting a trajectory for the Amaranthine on the star map behind him. “Well, looks like things have finally picked up. We’re moving at full speed now. See you soon, Alexandra.” “Yeah. Don’t make any wrong turns.” “I doubt EVA would let us, the ever-correcting intelligence unit that she is. Redding out.” “Applejack!” Apple Bloom ran forth and caught her big sister in a hug, her face rubbing against the smooth composite plate of the armor Applejack wore in and attempt to nuzzle her. “You’re alive! You’re alive...! I... huh? Where’d you get this suit?” “The folks who saved me gave this to me! It helps protect me from the green crystal and everythin’. And this here helmet’s what lets me breathe out there,” she said, producing a dull echo as she tapped the helmet next to her. Apple Bloom eyed the stenciled diving eagle logo on the center chestplate for Applejack. “Wow... are those folks here, Applejack?” They turned their heads as they heard rumbling, only to see the massive form of Big Macintosh round a corner and gun straight for the orange mare. “Applejack!” he shouted, sliding to a stop before her and picking her up in his enormous frame, hugging her tightly. “They told me... I thought you were...” “Shh, it’s alright now, Big Mac,” Applejack said, hugging him back. “I’m here now, and I’m fine.” She ruffled his mane a bit, giving a reassuring smile to the stallion as he sobbed into her shoulder. “I think Big Macintosh is merely putting our happiness in seeing you alive in the lightest terms,” Rarity said, standing behind her. Her normally pristine mane seemed to have lost its shimmer, though whether that was due to the climate or stress, Applejack did not know. “And now it seems we can save Pinkie, too... oh, this is such a grand turn of events.” “Ma’am.” They turned to see a guard standing in the castle doorway nearby, a stone’s throw away from the tree that they sat under. Behind him stood Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy... and the glowing orb that held the unconscious form of Pinkie Pie within. “The Princess would like the one known as Rarity to take care of the patient.” Rarity exchanged a confused look with Applejack. “But... why?” she asked. “It is because we have a solution that has finally presented itself, Rarity.” Princess Celestia appeared from the doorway, alongside Twilight Sparkle and their bipedal guests. Twilight’s horn glowed with energy as she slowly drifted Princess Luna’s stasis orb behind her. “I am giving the Elements of Harmony a clear task: take Pinkie Pie and my sister with these humans, as I am told they are called, so that they may receive medical treatment. Treatment,” she enunciated, “that will save their lives.” Applejack knew what was expected. They would take them down to the base, or Camp Greenwood as she had learned over listening in on the conversation between Wesley and Hampton in the crawler. Yes, this was their best chance, and perhaps their only one. They hardly had any room for other options. “Of course, Princess,” Rarity said, bowing before taking Pinkie’s bubble from the unicorn guard that held it. “We will... all be going?” “Indeed,” Celestia said. “This will also be a mission of peace. We wish to establish good relations with these humans, so that we can build a better future together. To help them reclaim our world from the blight that now stains it.” Her words held a great undertone of hope, much greater than any decree or public statement to her subjects to hold on, every single day. That voice seemed to instill an unshaken confidence in those around her, as the guards within earshot suddenly perked up, sharing in their ruler’s unspoken happiness. “I promise that we will do everything within our power to save them,” Wesley said. “Our medical facilities are top-notch, and I’m sure my staff will be eager to tackle this problem head-on.” Applejack noticed Viers walk closer to Wesley, as the doctor slightly inclined his shoulder backwards in some unheard conversation, which the others did not seem to notice. All, except Celestia. “Is there something wrong, doctor?” she asked, tilting her head in curiosity. “It seems that the situation has changed,” Wesley said. “Our commander has issued a contingent-wide notice concerning our defense plans... and he wishes to establish a primary line of defense here, within the city of Canterlot. It is the primary settlement for your kind, is it not?” “It is... and it is the only one. What is happening, doctor? Will there be an attack soon?” “Judging by the information that I’m receiving, it would seem that our mortal enemies have finally taken notice of your world, and have dispatched a sizeable force to reclaim it. They are called the Scrin... and they are an alien race who thrive entirely on the crystal that now covers your world. And given the projections, we are unfortunately outnumbered ten-to-one, at least until our reinforcements arrive within the next week or two.” “You say you are outnumbered, but are they dangerous? Can your weapons not stand up against them?” The tension in the doorway and garden was evident... that there was something else on an equal or even greater standing than the humans that visited them now. That was terrifying, to encounter not one, but two new alien races, that could easily wipe them off the map at any time, if they so chose to. “Your Highness, everything revolving around the Scrin always involves the use of Tiber—sorry, I mean the green crystal. Their weaponry, their technology, even their very way of life requires the use of the crystal to survive. That is why they ‘seeded’ your world, so to speak. They need to be able to harvest massive amounts of it at any given time, and what better way to do that than to cover an entire world with it?” “So we’re... they’re not even after us...” Twilight said. “They’re just coming here... for the crystal?” “Correct. And it is our hopes, with your permission, of course, that we can establish a primary line of defense both here in Canterlot, and down in the valley. We intend to build large weapons that can fire into the sky, and hopefully destroy the invaders before they ever have a chance to break through the clouds.” It was a tall order, of course, as Scrin drone carriers were designed to break apart upon destruction, cascading into a storm of smaller drone platforms that would find their places on the ground. It was about one of the few things that the Scrin utilized that the ISDI could not hard counter, so the best hope was to simply destroy as many as possible as they fell from the skies. Placing gun emplacements near settlements decreased the likelihood of a substantial ground force nearby. “I... give you permission,” Celestia said, after a moment of palpable silence. “We ourselves clearly do not have the means to deter invaders, so it is to your group that we must place our trust in.” “And your trust will not be misplaced,” Wesley said, turning to Viers. “Lieutenant, we have the green light.” “Affirmative. Dagger to Alexandra,” he said aloud. “We have confirmation on defense line at the city. Dropzone on Yankee, clear ground outside the city, confirm coordinates.” There was the chirp of static and a low murmur from Viers’ suit before he continued. “”Roger, command, MCV inbound. Dagger, over and out.” “I imagine the commander will want this area completely locked down before the Scrin arrive,” Wesley said. “Come now, Miss Sparkle, and friends. Our transportation is awaiting us at the city gates. I imagine we’ll have quite the scene when we arrive there.” “I’d assume so,” Viers interjected. “The commander’s waiting for a window when the ion storms weaken before podding in the reinforcements. He’s going the whole nine yards for this place: walls, railguns, artillery, and even a Firestorm defense system.” “I wonder how well that’ll work. The Firestorm system isn’t meant to be utilized in heavy urban environments.” He walked towards the gates as the Elements bid a farewell to Princess Celestia, quickly catching up to the pair of exiting humans. “At least, I’m not sure. I haven’t seen the outskirts of this place, so it might be possible to set up guns within the city itself.” “Maybe medical facilities?” Twilight asked. “For sure. But the city is already tight on space as it is. In due time, we’ll be able to treat everyone here.” “You hear that, Pinkie?” Dash said to the sleeping party pony. “We’re going to save you! And we’re all going to visit the aliens! This is awesome.” “At least it looks like our guests are happy about this,” Viers said. There would be much more work to come in the days ahead, and with the advent of the Scrin now, his desire for more action would be thoroughly sated... Ponies quickly gathered in the streets as the group passed through the city, whispering many things among themselves about the humans and Princess Luna. Even more gathered at the open city gates as the great open cargo bays of the deployed Mobius sat open and idle, as the multitude of soldiers and walkers meandered around beyond the frame of the massive offense crawler. A pair of young colts watched in wonder, galloping down the streets alongside the procession of pony and human that they struggled to keep up with in an attempt to get above the crowd and obtain a good view. Wesley was amused to see that even the pony youth behaved very much like children did. Well, that was probably because they were children, after all, but the behavioral similarities were still striking. Yankee was still waiting on standby at the gates when they arrived, Yankee Two doing the signature one-armed push-ups that zone troopers had become fond of. Yankee Lead clumsily held his chaingun with his left hand, his right thumping against his ammo belt before he managed to effect a proper salute. “Sir! I heard we’ve got some big stuff flying in right about...” There was a crack in the sky, as several objects quickly descended towards them. They slammed into the ground with a metallic thud, before the engines located on the corners roared into life, shooting the drop pods back into the sky and into orbit where they could be retrieved by the Methuselah. Gasps from the pony crowd came suddenly, as their eyes were fixated upon the orbital delivery device that shot back into the heavens themselves. “There’s the MCV now,” Yankee Lead finished. “Looks like the commander spared us the expense of staying and gave it a guard detail of its own.” Groups of zone troopers marched around it as it deployed to the wonderment of the ponies within the city, the telltale yellow hard hats of the ISDI Engineer Corps quickly darting around as the framework for what Wesley recognized as an artillery gun began to be set up at the cliff edge. “Hello, boys, we don’t have all day now, you know?” Hampton’s voice echoed from Mobius’ outside speakers. “Get your guests inside and let’s hightail it back down to Greenwood! And hi, to all of you ponies over there! Uh, doc, this thing does translate, right?” Wesley’s suit shoulders heaved, in what could barely be described as a shrug. “I don’t know. I installed it, so I would assume that it works somehow.” “Great!” The wide-eyed looks of ponies in the city made her laugh. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not a talking metal box! I’m just the person inside the metal box... I drive this thing. Well, drive, if you can call it that, but I also—” “What was that about wasting time, hmm?” Wesley called, ushering the Elements and their precious cargo into the Mobius. “Don’t we have somewhere to go? I—hey, careful with how you’re walking around with that thing, Miss Sparkle,” he said, as Luna’s bubble bumped into his shoulder. “Sorry, sorry!” she said. “I’ll try to keep it away from other objects.” “Good. Okay, then!” Wesley stepped inside, and tapped on the wall for Hampton to close the bay doors... only for nothing to happen. “Hampton? Commander Hampton! Move, please?” “I know, I know! Oh, look at them, there’s so many of them! Aww, they’re so cute! Even the guard ones, looking all strong and gruff and all that stuff!” She giggled. “Alright, Yankee, and the rest of you boys, get the hell in formation, because we’re double-timing it back down that hill!” The bay doors closed, and the legs of the crawler deployed themselves as it began to tower over the soldiers now gathering around it. “So, Lieutenant, what’s the situation on the Scrin?” Wesley asked, opening the canopy on his suit. Dash had to suppress a giggle as she saw that his head seemed absolutely tiny compared to the actual suit, which Wesley responded to with a smile before looking at Viers. “Hard to say, doc. He’s not released any information on the Scrin yet, but he has released the fact that he’s gone from T1 authorization to T4EX, which means we just went from peashooters to WMDs with a single escalation order from the man up top himself. Oh, and on top of our reinforcements from ZOCOM, the ITC Hammerfest has checked out of Osiris Naval Base and is on its way here. Piece two and two together.” Applejack merely listened in on the conversation with interest, letting Dash check out all the cool glowing parts of her suit with the random tapping of her hoof as her friends continued to hold conversation around her. “That bad, huh?” Wesley said. “Hammerfest is all Steel Talons, though... and Alexandra’s original famous—or infamous, depending on how you look at it—command ship. My guess is that it’s probably a substantial force heading our way. Are we even prepared to fight them off so early?” “I don’t know, doc. We have the advantage on the frontlines due to knowledge of the worlds we were fighting on, but this place is almost completely dark. We don’t have any strategic information about this place aside from the region that we’re in. At least on the colonies, we had fortresses and guns all over the world to fight them off, but here it’s going to be like stemming the high tide with a wall of sandbags.” “Can’t we stop proliferation somehow? They could land anywhere on this world, and we’ll be...” Wesley trailed off, until a pair of magenta eyes blocked Applejack’s view. “Psst. Hey. Applejack.” Dash prodded her in the faceplate with a tap of her hoof. “What are they talking about?” “Yes, what are they talking about?” Twilight said, smiling. “I can barely hear from here.” She moved closer to Applejack’s helmet in an attempt to pick up on what she was hearing. “I don’t know, Twi...” Applejack said. “But I don’t think it’s anythin’ good. I think those Scrin things are pretty bad. The doctor seems to be spooked.” The final word caused her memories to drift back to Pinkie Pie: giggle at the ghosties! The only problem was that these weren’t actually ghosties... they were aliens who most likely wanted them not-alive... “Oh... well... can we help? Somehow?” Fluttershy whispered. “I feel really bad that they’re so willing to help us out and there’s nothing we can do for them. And they helped you, too...” “Sugarcube, at this point, I think we’d be doin’ the doctor a favor if we all just try to stay alive right now,” Applejack said. “He’s a good... er, pony, I guess. He found me, and saved me, and he doesn’t even want any thanks for it. Even if we can’t trust the rest of ‘em, we can at least trust him. I owe him that much.” “Well, what happens when those other aliens show up out of the sky? Will it be like those grand pegasi battles of old that I read about in flight school?” Dash asked. “Like, massive battles in the air for control of the realm and all that stuff? Drama? Action? Betrayal?” “I didn’t realize you were just a history buff, Dash,” Twilight said jokingly. Dash shrugged, looking away with a bored expression. “Eh, it was back in flight school. I thought it was some pretty cool stuff, so that’s why I remembered it, that’s all. Seriously, with those guys wearing those suits, I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t as half as awesome as I think it’s going to be.” “I would hope that such displays will not tarnish our home, as ironic as that may sound despite its current condition, though I believe I may have jinxed us just by saying that,” Rarity said, maintaining her flow of magic as Pinkie’s bubble floated behind her. “We already have enough trouble as it is, and there’s no need for us to have more.” “Oh, do you know how their medical treatments work?” Twilight asked Applejack. “Maybe if we can get a glimpse into how it works, we can replicate it ourselves with our own results!” “I wasn’t awake durin’ that, Twi. I was out cold the whole time ‘til I woke up in a bed with the doctor there beside me. It was a hard road, but earth ponies are tough,” she said, holding her head high with pride. “He said it was amazin’ how I managed to heal right up after only a couple of days.” “Well, earth ponies are known for having a more hardy constitution than the other pony types,” Twilight said. “You said he was surprised by it? Humans must have a different experience recovering from medical operations... I know that unicorns and even pegasi can still get back to their hooves pretty quickly after an accident. Like that time Rainbow Dash broke her wing.” “Yeah,” Dash said. “Though that was totally an accident. Fluttershy can totally vouch for me, because I know I told her that—huh, where’d she go?” They all turned eyes to see Fluttershy approaching Wesley, albeit with small steps and a slight quivering of her body. Viers merely paused his conversation, beckoning Wesley to take up the conversation instead as he walked up the metal steps leading to Hampton’s control room. Wesley turned around, smiling as Fluttershy approached. “Is there something I can help you with?” he asked. The statement came in two parts, one an echo of the other, as he spoke normally and then let his suit translate for him. “Well, at least, I hope you can understand most of what I’m saying...” “Oh, um... I can understand you just fine...” Fluttershy said. “I just wanted to ask you if there’s anything we can do for you... that is, um, if we can. And, um, if that doesn’t bother you.” Wesley gave a heartwarming chuckle. “Well, I don’t think there’s anything much you can do for us, really. Well, there is one, and I completely forgot about that: I was supposed to talk to your princess about finding a good spot of land to build housing for you ponies.” “I think we can arrange for something...” Fluttershy said. “The sanctum is really cramped, and lots of healthy ponies have problems with things like food and space. And there’s also a lot of ponies that have problems with the crystal... and I’d like it if you could treat them as soon as possible.” “Yes, the ones in the city, right? I could see signs of it on their bodies... legs, body, and head. Some of them might even be considered advanced stage growth... though nothing can compare to the princess that we’re bringing down to our camp right now,” he said, a grimace on his face as he observed Princess Luna. The crystal growth was prevalent enough to give the bubble that it was contained in a dull green glow. “Princess Luna has been that way for a long time now...” She looked sadly at the Princess, who still wore her royal regalia, crown and all; they hadn’t enough time to remove it from her body before Celestia had put her into stasis. “Well, I can say for sure that I’ve seen worse cases. If the constitution of your bodies is anywhere near what I’m assuming it is, this operation will proceed along swimmingly, as will the recovery. Now—” An explosion rocked the crawler. “What the hell is going on out there, Lieutenant?!” “It’s those things again, doc! Sprung right up as soon as we reached the bottom of the mountain!” Viers shouted back from above. “Oh, damnit, not again. Just what reasons in the name of freaking hell’s bells does evolution produce a giant fucking bear of all things?!” Two loud booms shook the hull as the crawler’s primary twin-barrel cannons returned fire. The comms exploded into chatter as the telltale whirs and discharges of Titan beams could be easily heard outside, and Wesley turned to see if any of the ponies had been hurt or disoriented. They were not. “Sounds like somethin’ fierce goin’ on outside, doctor,” Applejack said. “Something like this is going to be par for the course for the next several months...” Wesley admitted. “I doubt we’ll be getting much sleep in the days to come. Lots of things to be done and all that.” “You know, I would have thought that extra-Equestrian contact would be... I don’t know...” Twilight said. “More... exciting? Lots of fanfare and all that stuff? The way you speak, doctor, it just seems like another day to you.” “With all due respect, Miss Sparkle, this is just another day for me. I’m a doctor. I save lives. And that’s what I’m going to do. Not much else to it.” “What the hell are those things?!” came clear from Hampton’s seat, before a series of explosions rocked the hull yet again. “Floaters?! Are those floaters?!” “No way, they’re too small to be floaters! Get the chainguns up front and mow ‘em down! Damned things are too fast to hit with our cannons!” “You should see this, doc...” Viers sent a live feed to Wesley’s display. The screen shimmered to life as it projected out of his suit, a hazy view of the battle that went on outside the crawler. Fluttershy moved forward in an attempt to see what was going on, only to meekly gasp when she saw what exactly it was that they were firing at. “Um... I assume... you know what that... those things are...?” Wesley asked slowly. Twilight trotted forth, her face scrunching in concentration as she gazed at the screen, only for it to spread into full shock as she looked at the now-cowering Fluttershy, realizing full well what the enemies were. She stepped back, her mouth opening a few times in an attempt to say something. “Those... those are parasprites,” she said. “But that’s...” She watched as a pair of the sprites flew straight into a trooper, exploding in bright flash and green smoke but thankfully dealing little in the way of actual damage, as the trooper quickly recovered and returned his firing. “They’ve been...” “Mutated,” Wesley said. “Indigenous wildlife always seem to have a better chance of mutating instead of dying off, plants included. We might have to cut down the entire forest on the other side of the valley, too... even at a distance, we can tell that they’ve been spreading the crystal.” “The trees?” Twilight asked, shocked. “The trees are causing the spread of the crystal?” “Normally used as an early-stage spread system, of sorts,” Wesley said. “It seems that an entire forest as dense as this one in particular has served all too well. Which way did the initial incursion come from?” The opposition began to flee back into the woods or towards the holes strewn about in the erratic landscape, leading down to places he couldn’t even begin to imagine. “Up north, near the city of Stalliongrad. It was among one of the first cities we lost to the crystal, so I’m sure you might find important things there. The entire north was overtaken pretty quickly.” Dash floated past her with a bored expression on her face, and went up the angled stairs, seemingly enormous compared to her diminutive body, while Rarity was busy controlling Twilight’s own flow of magic to make sure she didn’t cancel it by mistake. “Ground zero is usually where we launch our first efforts in reclamation. Strange, though, to see growth rates this fast. It must have compounded somehow, or perhaps had external aid.” Twilight’s head slowly moved as she continued listening to him, but was surprised to see him step into some machine that disassembled his suit with almost no difficulty at all. “Sorry about that. Suit can get a bit cumbersome, if you get what I mean,” he said, stepping out in his normal form, PDA underneath his arm. “You’re so small! And those suits are so... big, compared to you...” she managed. “Necessary, of course,” he said, shrugging. “With all the systems needed to keep it in working condition in such rough-housing situations like battle, bulk is an unfortunate by-product of design. Commander, what’s the situation up there?” “We routed them, doc. But they knew just where to spring up, just as we hit the bottom of the mountain. Real strange stuff, and it looks like they still got some more tricks up their sleeve, too. I gave that giant bear a couple of dead-on shots to the side before it ran away.” “We’re coming into Greenwood now, doc,” Viers said, descending the stairs as they could hear Hampton bickering at Dash upstairs to avoid pushing any buttons, no matter how shiny they looked. “Right, so about that... should probably make a note to keep them away from sensitive equipment.” Wesley gave an awkward smile and Dash returned with a frown, preferring to converse with Rarity instead of putting up with Hampton’s newfound list of rules pertaining to equipment etiquette. “Sheesh, I just wanted to see what they did...” “You know you shouldn’t be doing that, Dash,” Rarity said. “Can you imagine just how angry I would be if you went around messing with all of my dresses? Ah, perish the thought, it’s already making me queasy. These are poni—er, people with very important jobs. You shouldn’t tamper with their tools.” The sound of hydraulics wheezing and a shock that threw Twilight off her feet signaled the crawler coming to a complete stop. “End of the line, doc,” Hampton said. “The boys are still outside cleaning up the rest of the things. We’re going to need to send a recon team into those tunnels soon. They’re just loaded with the things, and we need to clean some serious house.” Metal groaned and the bay doors opened, revealing the engineering bay that Wesley, Viers, and Applejack had embarked Mobius from. In place of the empty bay with a small number of engineers, however, stood a number of medical staff in full dress, standing with two gurneys. “We won’t need the gurneys,” Wesley said. “Twilight, if you could please follow the staff and relocate your friends to the operating room. I’ll be joining you all shortly, as soon as I get myself into proper dress. The rest of you—that includes my current staff, not just the new ones—stop gawking and get your asses moving, ASAP! What’s the matter with you all? Haven’t any of you even seen a group of ponies before?”